About Salt Water Aquariums

Owning a saltwater tank can add a new dimension of life into your home. Instead of having goldfish or guppies, you can have a more colorful array of fish and other sea life. Saltwater tanks require a little extra set up and maintenance, but in the end you may find it worth the work.

Set Up

Setting up a saltwater tank requires more time before it's ready for fish than with a freshwater tank. A saltwater tank requires special sea salt with the proper water-to-salt ratio and at least two weeks of cycling before adding even the heartiest of fish. There must also be a proper bio-load in the tank, which is an amount of biological chemicals necessary for saltwater fish to live in. This can be achieved by adding natural filters, like live rock and live sand or by slowly adding "dirty" fish like damsels. Once the tank is tested for the proper amounts of nitrites, nitrates and ammonia, you can add more sea life.

Tank Size

The size of the tank really depends on what kind of sea life you plan to raise in it. For clams and oysters, your tanks can be any length but the depth should be considered since they require lots of UV lighting. Sand-sifting starfish should only be in tanks at least 55 gallons per fish because of their voracious appetite. The closer the tank size mimics the natural environment, the better chance of the fish will thrive.

Lighting

Just like the tank size, lighting should mimic as close to the natural environment of saltwater fish as possible. There should be low lights in the morning, full lighting during the day, low lights at dusk and no lights at night. This keeps the biological cycles in the tank in line. If you don't watch the lighting, certain unwelcome creatures may develop, like the "pineapple" sponge. It is relatively harmless to fish, but it can kill plants that are affixed to rocks, such as Xenias.

Fish

There is a much wider selection of fish to choose from with a saltwater tank. With this selection can come some hefty prices per fish. Some tank experts suggest that you start off with lower-priced fish that require little maintenance before moving on to the more expensive desired fish. There's a difference between killing a $3 Damsel and a $50 Lion fish just because your new tank still needed cycling.

Maintenance

Maintaining a saltwater tank isn't much different than a freshwater tank if you use the right equipment and natural settings. Live rock is an excellent natural filter that absorbs the leftover bio mess that fish naturally create. It can also spawn creatures like tube worms and copepods that feed off of fish debris. Adding a protein skimmer also keeps your tank clean. Protein skimmers take off added protein that's on top of the oxygen bubbles in the tank. With a good filtration system, you would only have to do a 50 percent water change every three weeks.

Resources

• Saltwater Aquarium Forum